homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation IL-2: FB, AEP, PF ATI or Nvidia

From what I remember, Nvidia cards used to be the better choice for IL-2 as they supported the 3D water effects.

I"m considering the Nvidia 9800GTX vs the ATI 4850HD for my new rig.

does IL-2 still have issues with ATi 4000ds?

Thanks,

Well IMHO, it's more about the entire system rather than just the video card. If you want ATI, you will have to consider a CrossFire ready MOBO, and if you are thinking Nvidia, you need to think an SLI board. So there is no definate answer. However, Intel processors are the fastest currently on the market - so that should be your focus.

I disagree.

If you want a Nvidia card you don't need a SLI board. You only need it if you are going to build a SLI rig.

On CF mobo,s you can install the 9800GTX you are looking or the 4850 from ATI. You choose.

IMHO the best election just now is the 4870. High performance and balanced cost.

Regards.

I think what he wanted to know is: does the new generation of ATI cards support the "enhanced" water -- which is something I wouldn't mind knowing the answer to as well.

Some one with a ATI Radeon 48xx (RV770) gfx board running IL2 around?
Good question regarding the "perfect" water and the newest ATI's..

On the motherboard issue.. You can stick any new ATI or nVidia card into any PCI-e (1.0 or 2.0) slot on MB's with Intel-, AMD- or nVidia chip.. Don't ask me bout SiS or VIA chips, I haven't read up on them for ages.. I miss SiS though, they had a singel chip solution once that looked promising.. (Now I'm seriously babbling!)

I have 4850HD, what do you want to know?

Hi Brian,

What I wish to know is what kinds of water effets are available to you in IL-2?

Are you still limited by the ATI card or can the new ATIs handle the perfect water?

Thanks,

Thanks, guys,

SLI is a consideration for a futuer upgrade.

But I don't intend to build an SLI/Crossfire system.
I use low resolutions 1024x768 and SLI isn't necessary.

AFAIK the new perfect water was already possible with x1xxx ATI cards

Water=4 is still only supported on Nvidia cards

Water=4 will only ever be supported for nVidia cards as it's written for them specifically, same goes for water=3 which is just a "4" adjusted for better performance. With Water=2 you get (about)the same visuals with ATI as you would with nVidia at Water=4...

Thanks for the info guys.

How smooth is the gameplay on the 4850? I have a X19xx series card and no matter what I do, I get these micro stutters whenever I'm looking through the spinning propeller - not too much of an issue when flying along, but certainly annoying when trying to line up for a shot.

I understand that this is not present on Nvidia solutions.

Any insight would be appreciated as I'm thinking of upgrading my video card (the battle is between the HD4870 & the GTX 260)

Many thanks
Hedge

Well I really don't know how nVidias stack up in IL2, but 4850HD is really kickin some serious behinds, even though I gave my self a budget and went with cheaper AMD processor which are since C2D noticeably weaker than their INTEL counterparts I'm enjoying a super smooth gameplay at perfect settings with 4xAA and 16xAF...
Haven't noticed any bugs or performance issues with il2 with it...

OH and btw I got Sapphire 4850HD, the only bad thing about it is stock cooling solution...if one can call that "solution", the card runs pretty hot, although ATI claims those temps are OK...however I will surely install a good aftermarket cooling solution on it...

It was revealed, not so long ago, that the user can alter the fan spin up on the stock 48xx cards within a XML-file located in the Radeon profile directory. So, don't give up on the stock fan before you have looked into this! -
http://www.fragonsight.com/forum/video-cards/7953-ati-4850-fan-temperature-work-around.html
Think MSI has recently started shipping their stock 4850 cards with altered fan profiles on the above changes to the profile.

My recomendation for aftermarket GPU cooking; Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev. 2 and then wire a 120mm Noctua NF-P12 to it ;-) Hardware Canucks have done exactly that with a Sapphire 4850, documented it and shared the results -
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/har...-review-23.html
amazing!

Yeah I already use the profile trick, it is better but A LOT noiser. I already ordered S1 rev.2 also was thinking about attaching 140mm fan to it though...

Nvidia then, I also like the better cooling solution.

nVidia is still overpricing so my call is for the ATI which is a much better bang for bucks product.

I personally prefer the way ATI cards handle anti-alias. The Nvidia card I have at the moment (8800GTS 320mg) struggles badly with it. Jaggies on the coasts etc. The overhead wires in San Andreas were awful too.

But everything looked great on my old ATI (can remember the model, but it was very popular). Seriously thinking of getting another ATI card. Sod the water effects.


Tony

Just reasently i got a new rig with a NVidia 9800 GTX (E8500 oc to 3.8 MHz with 4 GB memory)

It so happens that my brother got the exact same rig a week ago, only with the ATI 4850 instead of 9800 GTX (he oc`d his cpu to 4.2 MHz)

We both ran 3DMark06 and there was a differance of about 1000 points to my favor (Him: arround 13000 and me: arround 14000)

Not saying its conclusiv but thats the results we got in 3DMark.

P.S. I keep reading about ATI beeing a much better bang for bucks and its starting to enoy me just a bit It was true a month or 2 ago but today there is just a slight differance in cost if u bother to look arround in more than 1 online store (unless u count 10-20 euros in favor of the ATI as big)

P.S.2 The ATI card ran above 70 degrees under load. Mine was hovering between 50-60. Under real hard stresstests the ATI broke the 100 degree mark . So if u factor in that ju need a new cooler for your ATI (if you dont like the idea of having something hotter than hell in your 600-800 Euro rig, like me u in the end have to pay the same or more (depending on cooler) if u go with ATI than with GTX or other. The "better bang for buck" is highly relative in my opinion.

I forked out 150 euros for my GTX and my brother 140 for his ATI.

Black Death track with my rig: Perfect settings, Water 3, Forest 2, Effects 1, Res 1280X960 on 22" screen and NVidia control panel set on Quality with AA X8 and AF X8:


Min:42 Max:998 Avg:124.17


Will, when i feel the need krank up resolution and some more eye candy, as for now i dont feel the need since it looks awsome as is.


Running smooth as silk goes without saying.


We may be able to run both rigs in Black Death soon to make a more hands on comparison between the 2 cards.